Medical investigator vs medical science liaison

The differences between medical investigators and medical science liaisons can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a medical investigator and a medical science liaison. Additionally, a medical science liaison has an average salary of $145,718, which is higher than the $77,976 average annual salary of a medical investigator.

The top three skills for a medical investigator include law enforcement agencies, subpoenas and medical history. The most important skills for a medical science liaison are patients, medical affairs, and MSL.

Medical investigator vs medical science liaison overview

	Medical Investigator	Medical Science Liaison
Yearly salary	$77,976	$145,718
Hourly rate	$37.49	$70.06
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	49,363	57,208
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

Medical investigator vs medical science liaison salary

Medical investigators and medical science liaisons have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Investigator	Medical Science Liaison
Average salary	$77,976	$145,718
Salary range	Between $43,000 And $141,000	Between $59,000 And $359,000
Highest paying City	Memphis, TN	Jackson, TN
Highest paying state	Alaska	Tennessee
Best paying company	Yoh	Saint Luke's Health System
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between medical investigator and medical science liaison education

There are a few differences between a medical investigator and a medical science liaison in terms of educational background:

	Medical Investigator	Medical Science Liaison
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Nursing
Most common college	Duke University	University of Southern California

Medical investigator vs medical science liaison demographics

Here are the differences between medical investigators' and medical science liaisons' demographics:

	Medical Investigator	Medical Science Liaison
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 39.4% Female, 60.6%	Male, 41.6% Female, 58.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 23.8% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 23.4% White, 56.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between medical investigator and medical science liaison duties and responsibilities

Medical investigator example responsibilities.

Manage and facilitate manuscript preparation of oncology clinical trials results arising from currently market and pipeline drugs.
Identify trends and establish corrective procedures to maintain FDA compliance and customer satisfaction.
Supervise activities of analytical cellular and molecular immunology laboratories.
Perform QC of various documents to include PSURs, PADERs, CSRs, CTDs, and other regulatory aggregate reports.
Supervise activities of analytical cellular and molecular immunology laboratories.

Medical science liaison example responsibilities.

Supervise and analyze medical necessity review of manage care appeals.
Develop and manage KOLs resulting in presentations to regional, national and international meetings.
Utilize extensive knowledge of medical terminology, ICD-9, HCPCS and CPT coding along with analysis and processing of Medicare claims.
Provide pre-launch field support for a novel diabetes compound.
Provide drug information to medical professionals and sales force within FDA guidelines.
Join Clementine as a trainee BMS and successfully complete training and registration.

Medical investigator vs medical science liaison skills

Common medical investigator skills

Law Enforcement Agencies, 11%
Subpoenas, 11%
Medical History, 9%
Body Fluids, 8%
Physician Assistants, 7%
Medicaid, 5%

Common medical science liaison skills

Patients, 11%
Medical Affairs, 9%
MSL, 7%
Medical Science, 6%
Pharmaceutical Industry, 5%
Internal Stakeholders, 4%

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Medical Investigator vs Medical Science Liaison

Updated January 8, 2025

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